What the hekkebah is NWOBHM?!?

OK, for those of you who don't know already, NWOBHM stands for: New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. This phrase refers to a musical phenomenon that occurred in Britain between the years of 1979 and 1985 or so and produced a TON of new young metal bands. These new bands were influenced by the early British metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, UFO, Judas Priest, Budgie, Status Quo, etc.

The hallmark of these bands was freshness, rawness, hunger, camaraderie and a "do-it-yourself" attitude borrowed from the punks. These things, along with their British heritage, all combined to produced some exciting guitar-driven heavy metal in the early 80's!

Some bands produced one or two singles and faded into obscurity (i.e. Fireclown, Geddes Axe). Others went on to produce one or two full length albums (i.e. Witchfinder General, Handsome Beasts) on underground labels (i.e. Neat Records, Heavy Metal Records) before calling it quits. Still others produced many albums, first on underground and then on bigger labels while still retaining their cult status (i.e. Raven, Diamond Head, Venom), and a few actually went on to worldwide fame on major labels, though their NWOBHM appeal seemed to diminish as they got bigger (i.e. Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Saxon).

So there you have it! Talk about your faves and what albums you have by these great bands!

Oh yeah man, totally. They were on NEAT Records and that right there pretty much cements it.

They also had some friends in a band called WARFARE that played a similar style without all the satanic trappings. They were also on NEAT. I'd like to track some of their stuff down again. It was good thrashy metal and some of it was just hillarious in content.

Yeah, I liked those three albums also. I always hated Venom because of their image at the beginning of my high school years. Even before I was a Christian I hated that stuff - I was brought up Catholic though.

But do you know what hooked me in? The song "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" from the At War With Satan album! It cracked me up so much that I ended up checking out more of their stuff. (The same thing happened to me with Slayer and Mercyful Fate too.)

when I hunt down and find my metal blade comp NWOBHM 79 revisited I'll post that fine print underneath the track listing (unless i can find a legible version of it online...the print is super small, magnifying glass worthy small.) which proclaimed the bands belief in Christ.

okay, from the liner notes (below the band/track information) of the NWOBHM '79 revisited on metal blade records.....

SledgehammerSledgehammer is a song about sitting on the fence, pretending not to notice. Mike Cooke is now a committed Cristian and together with the other former member Terry Pearce and Ken Revell, has been working againstmanifestations of evil such as rape and pornography and therefore disclaims any suggestion that the NWOBHM is best described by a rapist's mask.

okay, from the liner notes (below the band/track information) of the NWOBHM '79 revisited on metal blade records.....

SledgehammerSledgehammer is a song about sitting on the fence, pretending not to notice. Mike Cooke is now a committed Cristian and together with the other former member Terry Pearce and Ken Revell, has been working againstmanifestations of evil such as rape and pornography and therefore disclaims any suggestion that the NWOBHM is best described by a rapist's mask.

Wow! That's cool man! I was just thinking the other day that NWOBHM is one grouping where you probably wouldn't find a Christian band or much Christian influence. Guess I was wrong!

okay, from the liner notes (below the band/track information) of the NWOBHM '79 revisited on metal blade records.....

SledgehammerSledgehammer is a song about sitting on the fence, pretending not to notice. Mike Cooke is now a committed Cristian and together with the other former member Terry Pearce and Ken Revell, has been working againstmanifestations of evil such as rape and pornography and therefore disclaims any suggestion that the NWOBHM is best described by a rapist's mask.

Wow! That's cool man! I was just thinking the other day that NWOBHM is one grouping where you probably wouldn't find a Christian band or much Christian influence. Guess I was wrong!

Oh! I thought shure that NWOBHM was "Ned's Warehouse Of Bull & Horse Manure", which is where me and my brothers get all our fertilizer for our gardens. I thought maybe we all had sumthin' in common there with you all...

GuestGuest

Subject: Re: What the hekkebah is NWOBHM?!? Sun May 20, 2007 6:02 pm

SLEDGEHAMMER!?!?!? Christian?? One album extant??

I did not know they were Christian and I also did not know what they had out there. Finding out they were Christian kindles an interest in them.

I must begin a quest to find that one album. The vault needs it inside it.